| Genius DeathTaker USB Laser Gaming Mouse |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Input Devices | |
| Written by Joey Peng | |
| Monday, 19 March 2012 | |
Genius DeathTaker Gaming Mouse Review
Manufacturer: Genius Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by Genius. Taiwan-based Genius may not be a well known brand when compared with other established companies such as Steelseries and Razer, but they have been around for a long time. They were credited for shipping the first mouse with a scroll-wheel, and currently manufacture products for other brand-name companies. The GX Gaming series is their first stab at entering the gaming peripherals market under their own brand. Benchmark Reviews has on its hands the Genius DeathTaker MMO/RTS gaming mouse. We will be testing this premium 9-button, weight-adjustable gaming mouse to see whether this late-comer can take the spotlight. The GX gaming series in general sports flashy designs and bright lighting. Scorpion is their series logo. The products includes mice, mouse surfaces, keyboards, and audio peripherals. It's interesting that Genius specifically adds MMO/RTS into the DeathTaker description. What they really mean is a fully configurable 9-button mouse suitable for storing macros. 
This mouse will be hitting North American shelves soon with an MSRP of $79.90. Substantially late to the party, most macro-capable gaming mice all have similar functionality by now. At this point most companies are competing on design, usability, and quality. Can Genius pull their own gaming brand off and get a good start in North American markets? Benchmark Reviews will be diving into the details of the Genius DeathTaker. DeathTaker Features
Specifications
Closer Look: Genius DeathTakerThe Genius DeathTaker is priced fairly high for a brand not well known in North America. It has been tagged with the exact price tag as Steelseries' Ikari (6 buttons) and the famous Razer Naga 17-button MMO mouse. Microsoft and Roccat all have similar gaming mice for $60 or less. That's definitely a statement Genius is making: they're not afraid to compete. 
The box contents include the DeathTaker gaming mouse, DeathTaker UI Driver, Metal weights (6x 4.5g), and multi-language quick start guide. On paper the Genius DeathTaker boasts an impressive feature-set, including: adjustable weights, 5700 DPI, 9 macro-capable buttons, up to 5 profiles, on board memory, customizable lighting, and the list goes on. 
Starting with initial impressions, the design of the DeathTaker is a little bland. There's nothing fancy about the exterior. The excessive labels, numbers, logos and criss-cross of different colors and materials make the mouse seem kind of messy. Since all the buttons can be assigned functionality outside of their defaults, so it was absolutely pointless to mark "x", "y" (for axis adjustments),"M" for "macro" (all of the buttons can be macros!), and "D" (DPI switch). The 1 line of text "Pro Game Style" is absolutely pointless too. The middle section labeled 1-3-5 is supposed to let users know which profile they're on, but the included software already gives a screen notification. In fact, the mouse has 5 red vertical led lights that goes from left to right as the profiles toggles. If you include 5 LED lights, why not just light up one for profile 1, two for profile 2? Instead the DeathTaker toggles from the left-most light to the right-most light and is almost impossible to see which profile you're on without picking up the mouse to see exactly where the light is lined up. 
While technically 9-buttons, the scroll-wheel's scroll-up and scroll-down function can be made to trigger other effects. This could be useful for games that don't need scroll but needs additional macros. Interestingly this "Magic Roller" scroll wheel is patented by Genius. 
The Genius DeathTaker sports 2 long pieces of Teflon feet for smooth control. Size-wise the DeathTaker is on the small side. At 11.5cm in length, for larger hands the mouse will feel small and can only be gripped with finger tips (claw hold). 
The Genius DeathTaker's appearance is mediocre at best. This if unfortunate because looking at every other Genius GX product, they look much better, especially the speakers. However with a long list of functionalities, the Genius DeathTaker still has a chance to compete against other champions. In the next section Benchmark Reviews will take a closer look at the detailed features of the Genius DeathTaker MMO/RTS Gaming Mouse. Genius DeathTaker Detailed FeaturesBenchmark Reviews will now take a closer look at the details of the Genius DeathTaker MMO/RTS Gaming Mouse The Genius DeathTaker has a hidden compartment to store weights. The weights are shoved into a rubber holder and then placed into a compartment. The cover is magnetic, but well designed so that it is very difficult to take off unless you intend to. 
Regardless of what people say, having an adjustable weight system is a definite plus for gaming mice. Everyone's muscle strength is different, so this gives users a way to optimize for what they feel is most comfortable. Unfortunately Genius did not include any way to store these weights. The $50 Microsoft Sidewinder comes with more weight options as well as a stylishly rubberized travel-size box to store weights. While not necessary, for $79.90 I wouldn't mind having a couple of extra freebies. 
Next we can take a closer look at the drivers and customizability. Other than the "Left click button", every other button/scroll can be used to define a macro, up to 5 profiles. Profiles can be exported and saved as a file as backup or for easy setup with other computers. The DeathTaker has 2 unique profile functionalities that make it stand out, instant profile and set profile. Instant effectively acts as a "shift key" allowing you to temporarily use the macros of a separate profile, while "set" toggles to a separate profile all together. 
Macro manager is very similar to all existing macros editers. You can record keystrokes and mouse clicks then assign them to a macro button. However the DeathTaker can only remember a maximum of 40 sequence operations, and 1-key stroke (press and release) counts as 2 operations. For most games this should be fine, though this might be limiting for using this for more complicated button mashing games or storing instant messages. The maximum aside, there is a bug where if you type in keystrokes fast (For example I was recording a combo for Lunia), the software bugged out because there are always 2 keyboard buttons pressed simultaneously (arrow keys and action keys), and it will NOT let you end the recording without the key sequence ending with all key presses released. This is annoying because I constantly hold a direction button, and I have to remember to release it BEFORE I hit the recording limit otherwise it will discard the entire recording automatically. 
For mouse sensitivity and other advanced settings, the DeathTaker drivers has everything you need. You can exclusively use the driver and ignore control panel. For easy DPI toggling, up to 5 settings can be specified. 
One of the most beautiful yet elusive features of the Genius DeathTaker is the 16 million color lighting system. So first of all, the lighting system does exactly as promised. It's awesome to have a mouse that can match any lighting system, whether another keyboard, your desktop, or even the LED color on your monitor. However in practice the lighting does very little to make the mouse look good. The biggest problem is the existing exterior design. The center is a red coated button and even worse, the Profile indicator's light is not adjustable and is ALWAYS red! So if you do not find a color that complements the existing colors (red, white, grey, and black), the new color just adds to the appearance's mess. Also given that the driver UI shows a color pallet, you would think that you can click and drag your mouse to see the different colors. But instead if you click and move the mouse, it drags the entire driver UI. So to make fine adjustments to the colors you need to enter RGB numbers or click the mouse around the same area many times. 
The Genius DeathTaker has decent drivers with great response times. Unlike many other drivers, settings are applied fast. Most of the functionalities seem to work fairly well. In the next session Benchmark Reviews will go through detailed breakdown on usage and testing results. Testing & ResultsTesting MethodologyThis mouse was used as the primary mouse over a period of 3 weeks. In addition to producitivty software and everyday browsing, the mouse was tested in several games: StarCraft 2, League of Legends, and Might & Magic VI. Test System
Test Software
ResultsThe Genius DeathTaker doesn't have the great design like the rest of the GX family or its competitors. However its long list of functionalities makes up for some of its weaknesses. Starting with raw stats, the 5700 DPI laser equipped is accurate and more than sufficient for pro griming. Duo-axis control allows fine tweaking based on user preference. Its slightly on the small size and more suited for finger-tip gripping, while only small hands hold using palm grip. The polling rate can go up to 1000Hz. This is very important for gaming mice, as it determines the responsiveness, and 1000Hz is equivalent to a response time of 1ms. The driver software is one of the most responsive in its class. On the fly profile adjustments are instant. One interesting feature is the DeathTaker allows profiles to be assigned to a button. There are two profile actions, instant, or set. Instant acts like a shift key that, while holding it down, will temporarily grant you the macros of a different profile. Set profile on the other hand allows you to toggle to another profile. This is one of the most robust and interesting profile and macro setups I've ever seen for a mouse. The auxiliary buttons on the Genius DeathTaker are one of its key selling points. Its macro recording capability is slightly limiting, but will be fine for most RTS/MMO games. The positioning of these buttons results in only half of them being usable in practice. The easily reachable auxiliary buttons are "x" and scroll-wheel (click, scroll-up, and scroll-down). Together you can bind 4 macros for easy access on your mouse. The "m" macro button is also fairly "sticky" and cannot be used to spam clicks as it often misses and fails to register clicks. The 5700 DPI laser equipped allows the DeathTaker to be usable on almost any surface, though you will want to avoid reflective surfaces and glass. After couple weeks of usage I have no complaints to its tracking abilities.
While small the DeathTaker does feel fairly comfortable to use for long durations. Gaming Mouse Final ThoughtsGenius made a good move to enter the gaming market under its own brand as opposed to manufacturing for other name brands. That is definitely one way to increase margins. However in today's market they really needed something "greater" to make a splash. This could be achieved either by pricing competitively or coming up with a product that's genuinely unique. Razer made a name for itself with slick designs, the Razer Naga is an iconic MMORPG gaming mouse. Steelseries has their minimalistic designs. MadCatz came up with the most customizable mouse ever. How about Genius? At this point simply filling in check-boxes for functionality isn't enough. 
Genius DeathTaker ConclusionThe Genius DeathTaker has solid performance in gaming. At 5700 DPI, and 1000Hz polling rate, The DeathTaker's raw performance matches any high-end gaming mouse. While small, it's still fairly comfortable to use for long durations. How powerful is the laser? Well, the mouse can function perfectly fine even when lifted up a couple of millimeters off the surface of a mouse pad. The appearance and visual design of the DeathTaker is mediocre. The entire mouse surface has 4 colors, 2 logos, 1 line of text, and 6 labels. The customizable lighting of the mouse doesn't help the situation at all. The unfortunate reality is if Genius took some time to remove all the "extra stuff" this would've been one slick mouse. But as it stands today, the extra visual elements are as useless as the text sitting etched in the middle of the mouse. The Genius DeathTaker has a solid construction and the only noticeable flaw is the stickiness of one particular macro button, which fails to "pop" back up unless you lift your entire finger off the button. The vast majority of its surface is plastic, with only the thumb rest coated in rubber. However even so the mouse's build feels very solid. The compartment for adding weights is magnetized and snaps on easily. You would think a magnetic lid is a recipe for disaster as it would fall off easily, but in reality genius positioned the magnet and plastic inserts perfectly so that it is almost impossible for it to uncover it unless you purposely try to. In terms of functionality, the DeathTaker sports a long checklist. This mouse has everything including custom lighting, macro buttons, on-board memory, profiles, adjustable weights, x/y axis adjustments, quick DPI toggles, and more. However while this list is impressive, not everything came together in the optimal way. Only half the macro buttons are accessible during game-play, the macro management is limiting and only records up to 40 sequences (or 20 key presses). However the profile toggling feature of the Genius is something truly robust and interesting. If assigned, profile buttons can act as a "shift key" to allow more macro bindings, or can be used to toggle between profiles instantly. For those optimizing for a game, this can truly be powerful. The current suggested price by Genius for retailers is $79.90. This isn't particularly cheap. Having used this mouse for a while it's apparent that the DeathTaker has a huge and powerful feature set. However the appearance really could be better. If an MMO/RTS mouse is what you're looking for, take a look at the Razer Naga and Steelseries Ikari first to make some comparisons. You will notice that the DeathTaker has a larger feature set but when it comes to style and usability, it falls behind. Pros:
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Comments
Just a point, according to Wiki, "The scroll wheel was invented at Microsoft in 1993 by Eric Michelman[2]. The first example of a scrolling mouse is the Genius EasyScroll mouse made by Taiwanese company KYE Systems in 1995, but it was popularized by the Microsoft IntelliMouse in 1996 along with support for the mouse wheel in Microsoft Office 97."
Considering these guys patented assigning a macro to "up and down" on a scroll wheel (I'm amazed that can even be patented considering it's so obvious), you'd think they would also have a patent on the mouse wheel if they invented it.
Sheesh, they'll give out a patent for anything these days.
"How powerful is the laser? Well, the mouse can function perfectly fine even when lifted up a couple of millimeters off the surface of a mouse pad."
This was one of the most ridiculous lines.